22 Vol. 1, No. 1

October-December 2017

Innovation in Disability Sector

MudraMudraMudraMudraMudraAn InnoAn InnoAn InnoAn InnoAn InnovvvvvativativativativativeeeeeDeDeDeDeDevice Helpingvice Helpingvice Helpingvice Helpingvice Helping

Deaf-MutDeaf-MutDeaf-MutDeaf-MutDeaf-Mute Pe Pe Pe Pe Peopleeopleeopleeopleeoplettttto ‘to ‘to ‘to ‘to ‘talk’alk’alk’alk’alk’

A number of innovations are being done all over the

world. In our country also innovations are taking

place to solve the societal, environmental and economic

problems. Recently, we read a story about an innovative

device -Mudra, developed by Mr. Apurva Venkat, a

student of Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru. The

highlights of this innovative device are shared here

thinking that it may inspire our young innovators and

researchers to be more sensitive towards social problems

and the people around. Further, they may be inspired to

develop such innovative products, processes and services

for betterment of the society.

What lead this Innovation?

There is a large number of people across the world who

can not listen and speak. For a common person it becomes

difficult to communicate with such persons. Recognizing

this problem, four students from Amrita School of

Engineering in Bengaluru, Mr. Abhijith Bhaskaran, Mr.

Anoop G Nair, Mr. Deepak Ram and Mr. Krishnan

Ananthanarayanan thought of developing a smart glove

that can recognise commonly used gestures in India and

translate them into voice, so that a common person can

understand what they want to say.

How ‘Mudra’ Works?

Mudra glove can be worn like any other riding glove.

Once worn, the glove recognises hand gestures in all

possible directions and angles, using flex resistors,

accelerometer and gyroscope. The corresponding output

is transmitted as speech through inbuilt speakers. The

glove can currently recognise numbers from one to 10,

and gestures frequently used by Indians corresponding

to words such as goodbye and thank you.

According to Mr. Anoop Nair, they have used a

combination of finger gestures and hand movement to

help detect and understand an action. In fact, they have

feeded about 70 words that correspond to various actions

in the gloves. This can be extended further as well.

Initially, the team had planned to use a camera device

but it proved to be bulky and expensive. Again adding

an innovative dimension, they shifted to flex

technology. Each flex sensor costs them around Rs 750.

The team used 10 flex sensors, an accelerometer and a

gyroscope, taking the total cost to Rs 7,500. The camera

device version would have cost the team at least Rs

70,000. A prototype of the glove, built in 16 weeks, is

being tested at the Amrita Robotics Research Lab.The

students say that the most difficult part of the glove,

also their final-year project, was the design part.

It is not the first time that this team developed

automated glove for deaf and dumb. In fact, such

similar gloves using flex technology had also been

developed by a team of students Team QuadSquad in

Ukraine. But they used 15 flex sensors and gave the

option to transfer the voice (recording) via Bluetooth

to a mobile device and also to a computer. But the cost

of the glove, which is called EnableTalk, is estimated

to be $150 (around Rs 10,000). Another team of two

students from the University of Washington also

created a similar glove and called it SignAloud. The

cost of this device is not known. In addition to it, a

collaborative group from New Zealand and Malaysia

are also working on a sign-to-text program, which

translates gestures from Malaysian sign language to

multiple languages.

IMAGE: Kind courtesy Amrita University

23Vol. 1, No. 1

October-December 2017

Innovative Features of ‘Mudra’

But as compared to the earlier gloves, the gloves

developed by the Indian team have several innovative

features. The innovative features of the Mudra gloves

are as follows:

• These are cost effectiveness, easy to use and works

on Indian sign languages,

• The smart glove recognizes commonly used

gestures in India and translates them into voice,

• While the glove helps speech-and hearing-

impaired people, it is multi-purpose as well.

• Once worn, it recognizes hand gestures in all

possible directions and angles using flex resistors,

accelerometer and gyroscope,

• These gloves can be reprogrammed for a range of

applications in which motion-sensor technology

plays an important role, such as gaming stations,

virtual reality, remote control of devices, and the

robotics and medical industry, etc.

Challenges Faced While

Developing ‘Mudra’

According to the team, there were some challenges also

while developing the smart gloves. Some of them are

given below:

• The design of the gloves was crucial, as a stiff

hold was required on the fingers. For this purpose,

a range of values was calibrated precisely for each

specific position of the finger and the rest was

filtered out.

• Calibration of values for specific positions was a

time consuming activity and had to be very

accurate.

• The movement of the hand also posed another

challenge. Although the inertial measurement unit

offered values, these were not accurate, owing to

noise. Filtering techniques were adopted for

precision.

• Since differentiating between various orientations

and movements of the hand with only one sensor

was proving to be difficult, the students developed

a novel method of state estimation.

Once the Mudra glove comes in market, it can be a very

good means of communication between deaf and normal

peoples. Though, the team from India says that these may

be more cost-effective, but in the absence of a proper

comparative research study on what the other teams have

done, it may be difficult to confirm. Even than the

innovation by the Indian team is appreciable.

“Innovators are those who do

not know that it cannot be done.

Innovators are those who see

what everyone else sees but

think of what no one else

thinks. Innovators refuse status

quo, They convert inspirations

into solutions and ideas into

products.”

—Bill Gates

qq

“Exploration is the enginethat drives innovation.

Innovation drives economicgrowth. So let’s all go

exploring”.

—Edith Widder